After starting Friday’s final day in the Alps in thirteen place with a stage triumph, Thymen Arensman has been Ineos’ main man in this Tour. But he held off a charging Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar to win on summit finish La Plagne. Friday’s final chance for GC moves was a shortened one, but there was plenty of movement in the GC top-10. Pogačar is poised to win his fourth yellow and second consecutive title.
The GC Situation Overnight
Vingegaard couldn’t diminish his deficit to the yellow jersey and lost time almost every time he tried to over the last week. Lipowitz’s podium and white jersey were 22 seconds from Onley, who used Thursday to stretch out the gap between his fourth and Primoz Roglič’s fifth. Could Kévin Vauquelin take back his sixth from Austrian Felix Gall or would he fall farther?
1) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) 66:55:42
2) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Visma-Lease a Bike) +4:26
3) Florian Lipowitz (Germany/Red Bull) +11:01
4) Oscar Onley (Australia/Picnic-PostNL) +11:23
5) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Red Bull) +12:49
6) Felix Gall (Austria/Decathlon-AG2R) +15:36
The Course
Initially five categorized climbs including two HC’s squeezed into 129 km, organizers removed Cat. 2 Col des Saisies from the parcours in light of heavy cattle culls due to contagious nodular dermatitis. The stage now covered a total distance of 95 km.
The HC summit finish of La Plagne, where Stephen Roche famously fought back to Pedro Delgado in 1987, hasn’t been in the Tour since 2002.
Friday’s forty-five KOM points seemed a lock to tempt “Sticky” Lenny Martinez and Arensman to go at it on the 12-km, 7.8-percent Col du Pré. The day’s intermediate sprint was on the long drag before the Pré proper, and there Lidl-Trek took control and delivered Milan first over the line. The pace was hot on Pré, but Martinez and Roglič got away with a platoon of others. The grades whittled down the escape group, and then Martinez and Roglič skipped away, Stage 16 victor Valentin Paret-Peintre getting in on the action.
Cat. 2 Cormet de Roselend followed hard on the heels of Pré. The leading trio held a half minute, and Vauquelin and eleventh place Jordan Jegat were ejected from the peloton before the Roseland rose up.
Martinez…
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